Pineapple With Friends

It was the eighth and final day of our Hawaii vacation. Most people might have kicked back on a beach somewhere. We chose to hop to one last island, Oahu.

In contrast to the tiny plane that had brought us to Maui, this time we were on a standard jet through Island Air. At least, that was the plan. Some equipment trouble and a cancelled flight put us an hour behind schedule on Hawaiian Airlines instead. Yet another reason to prefer the small commuter flights, I think.

But we did make it to Oahu, and our agenda wasn't really packed anyway. First, we were going to see friends. Just a few months earlier, our friends James and Anna had moved to Honolulu with their daughter Julia. Our already-planned vacation thus became their first chance to welcome friends from back home in Colorado. They took us to a great Chinese restaurant they'd found in their time there. We then left James behind to work (the military being notoriously strict about such things... well, all things), while the rest of us enjoyed perhaps the most touristy stop of our whole trip -- the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

In a trip full of things that turned out to be better than expected, and a few that were less than expected, Dole was pretty much exactly what we'd expected. That made it a perfect way to wrap things up. Dressed up as an almost Disneyland for Pineapples, Dole had a massive gift shop, a restaurant serving all things pineapple, and a garden maze. It even had a train tour, aboard the "Pineapple Express." (Nothing like the movie.) It was all a bit cheesy, but in a rather endearing sort of way.

And it was all rather informative too. I'd known in the general sense that pineapples don't actually grow on trees, but this was the first time I'd seen the fruits growing on their odd plants.

I learned the plants produce only two crops before they have to be uprooted and replanted again. And I learned just how much better the pineapple tastes when it's fresh. (The ice cream was really quite good.)

There was a garden on the property, with all sorts of interesting trees and plants. Not pressed for time as we were back in the Garden of Eden, we were able to relax and enjoy walking through them much more. It also helped to have Anna with us, who really enjoyed seeing all the strange trees and flowers up close.

Particular highlights were the bizarre, almost fake-looking gum tree...

... and the coffee cherry tree, where we were able to impart to our friends all of the info about making coffee that we'd learned near the beginning of our trip.

We had enough time to conquer half the maze before the place closed for the evening, and then it was back to Honolulu to pick up James. We got a quick tour of their new home, and a fun discussion of the odd "doodle bird" calls that punctuate Hawaii sunsets and sunrises. (Later, we'd learn this bird is actually known as a Zebra dove.)

We all enjoyed a leisurely dinner, and hugs goodbye. Even with a short "will we find a gas station before the tank is empty" scare, we got to the airport in plenty of time for our overnight flight back to Denver. We'd packed the days enough that sleeping on an airplane, normally quite a challenge for me, was no problem at all.

We'd had a fun-filled adventure.